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I haven't seen those movies, but I've lived in three towns of 5K or fewer people. Will not willingly do so again. They seemed insular and unwelcoming to me, but I was an outsider. If you're not an outsider or better at social stuff or have a lot of money they might be okay.

There are things I like about it, and it's quaint and slower-paced, but the problem is community. When it works, it's nice; people can be cared for in time of need, and you can do each other favors rather than just doing impersonal business. But since everyone automatically knows everyone else's business, sometimes there can be lots of drama and exclusion.

I sat there at that funeral home yesterday and listened to two small towners banter, and I learned the comings and goings of a bunch of people by name who I've never met or heard of before. Everyone knows everything about everyone else. I also heard various stories about who either liked my dad or who my dad managed to piss off and get burned by their families by. ("Well, you shunned our daughter in <this matter>, so now the whole family will refuse to participate in this event you're running this year.")

(of course, in big cities, it's easy to feel faceless and unknown.)

Change is also not very favored -- there's a kind of skepticism there.

"Hey Capa -- We're only stardust." ~ "Sunshine"

“Pleasure to me is wonder—the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability. To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are to me the springs of delight and beauty.” ~ H.P. Lovecraft

There are things I like about it, and it's quaint and slower-paced, but the problem is community. When it works, it's nice; people can be cared for in time of need, and you can do each other favors rather than just doing impersonal business. But since everyone automatically knows everyone else's business, sometimes there can be lots of drama and exclusion.

I sat there at that funeral home yesterday and listened to two small towners banter, and I learned the comings and goings of a bunch of people by name who I've never met or heard of before. Everyone knows everything about everyone else. I also heard various stories about who either liked my dad or who my dad managed to piss off and get burned by their families by. ("Well, you shunned our daughter in <this matter>, so now the whole family will refuse to participate in this event you're running this year.")

(of course, in big cities, it's easy to feel faceless and unknown.)

Change is also not very favored -- there's a kind of skepticism there.

I think when it works it is ideal. When it doesn't it's pretty bad. I don't have the social skills or motivation to make it work, so it's easier to be in my mid-sized (50K pop) hometown. I know the rules well enough to get by. There's a decent chance I will see someone I know when I go out, but I don't have too many people thinking they know my business or what kind of person I am based on my last name. IME, in small communities (towns or otherwise) if you happen to be very private and they can't otherwise find out about you, they make stuff up and can be very imaginative.

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” ~ John Rogers

I haven't seen those movies, but I've lived in three towns of 5K or fewer people. Will not willingly do so again. They seemed insular and unwelcoming to me, but I was an outsider. If you're not an outsider or better at social stuff or have a lot of money they might be okay.

I dunno, there are about 3k in my town. I'm not particularly good at social stuff and I wouldn't say we are wealthy. I don't feel like anyone is in our business but I would make sure that was the case no matter where I lived. We also live on a lake and our neighbors are really wonderful.

I like to rock n' roll all night and *part* of every day. I usually have errands... I can only rock from like 1-3.

I dunno, there are about 3k in my town. I'm not particularly good at social stuff and I wouldn't say we are wealthy. I don't feel like anyone is in our business but I would make sure that was the case no matter where I lived. We also live on a lake and our neighbors are really wonderful.

There's a fairly big difference between not being wealthy and being poor, which we pretty much have always been. I guess it makes more of a difference than I realized.

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” ~ John Rogers

Sure do, and I hope to move back to one some day! I also don't think they are hard to find, either, sometimes you just have to travel a distance to get there. (Note that I've never seen the movies you mentioned in the OP) I go out of my way to drive through them on trips to relatives / just on a weekend off, to remind myself. I didn't grow up in a tiny town, but relatively small and on the edge of the vast American wilderness.